Tag Archives: drafts

Complex Weavers library is a great source of information. I know nothing about Beiderwand and most of the folks I know don’t have a clue either but! CW has a treasure trove of samples and even a pamphlet devoted to that structure. I have had the materials for more time than I should have, but the time has allowed me to absorb the information (I think, I have not woven it yet), There are two sets of samples, one from 1980 and another from 2010. So what has happened in the interim? Computers! Computer weaving programs, computer driven looms. No more point paper. No more dobby bars. Freedom, well relatively speaking. I tried copying just a small part of one of the sample pages. Really. It was painful and this little piece took me about 15 minutes. Remember I was copying, no original thought.

I left a lot of the little erasure marks for your edification (and mine). There is no threading here, no plan to show how is is made into Beiderwand. It must have taken hours to prepare drafts. I can appreciate profile designs on a new level now, so much easier to just fill in a profile and define the blocks. etc etc etc.

Redone in a computer program it looks like this

and it didn’t take as much time by half. Plus! now all I have to do is ask the program to put it into Beiderwand. What’s not to like? It looks neat to boot.

But that does not mean I don’t see a need for pen and pencil. My friend Carla Gladstone spends hours doodling to come up with wonderful designs with just lines.